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WILL USING REFILLED INK OR TONER VOID A WARRANTY?

Who has not heard the statement “I was told not to use refilled or remanufactured printer cartridges in my printer because it will void my warranty”. Well, we are here to tell you that is a big fat lie!!

The United States Congress passed the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act in 1975 to protect consumers against claims like this made by manufactures. The consumer should have free choice in buying an item or service to use with any purchased item. Here is an except from the Act:

“(c) No warrantor of a consumer product may condition his written or implied warranty of such product on the consumer’s using, in connection with such product, any article or service (other than article or service provided without charge under the terms of the warranty) which is identified by brand, trade or corporate name; except that the prohibition of this subsection may be waived by the commission if:

The warrantor satisfies the Commission that the warranted product will function properly only if the article or service so identified is used in connection with the warranted product, and

The Commission finds that such a waiver is in the public interest.

So what does this mean to the consumer? It means that the manufacturer of the printer you are using cannot void the warranty on your printer because you use a compatible or remanufactured cartridge or refill kit manufactured by someone other than the printer manufacturer. This prohibition includes the use of compatible cartridges, clip-ons, continuous feeding mechanisms, refill kits, third-party inks and the list goes on.

I can’t tell you how many times a customer tells us that they were on the phone with the company that made their printer and were told not to use any aftermarket cartridge or the warranty will be void. Well, if you are every talking to a sales rep from any of the original manufactures and that person tells you that your warranty will in fact be void if you use a remanufactured printer cartridge in your machine, ask him very nicely if he would put that in writing and fax it over to you. You will find that not one of them will do that because they know if they do it is against the law and they could get sued. If by chance they do put it in writing contact your lawyer immediately because you are in for a lot of money. So don’t be fooled by this nonsense, if you have any questions about your warranty please give us a call and we will give you the correct information.